Communication coordination and collision mitigation for multi-subscriber identity module devices

ABSTRACT

This disclosure relates to systems, apparatuses, and methods for coordinating communication and avoiding and/or mitigating collisions for multi-subscriber identity module devices in a wireless communication system. A wireless device may coordinate communication associated with different subscriber identity modules and/or may mitigate collisions between communications associated with different subscriber identity modules. A network may provide information to improve coordination and/or mitigate collisions. A network may adjust paging schedules and/or provision of alert messages to improve coordination.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims priority to Chinese patent application serialnumber 201910620158.1, entitled “Communication Coordination andCollision Mitigation for Multi-Subscriber Identity Module Devices,”filed Jul. 10, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety as though fully and completely set forth herein.

FIELD

The present application relates to wireless communications, and moreparticularly to systems, apparatuses, and methods for coordinatingcommunication and avoiding and/or mitigating collisions formulti-subscriber identity module devices in a wireless communicationsystem.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recentyears, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers havebecome increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephonecalls, many mobile devices (i.e., user equipment devices or UEs) nowprovide access to the internet, email, text messaging, and navigationusing the global positioning system (GPS), and are capable of operatingsophisticated applications that utilize these functionalities.Additionally, there exist numerous different wireless communicationtechnologies and standards. Some examples of wireless communicationstandards include GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA orTD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE 802.11 (WLAN orWi-Fi), BLUETOOTH™, etc.

The increasing number of features and functionality introduced inwireless communication devices also creates a continuous need forimprovement in both wireless communications and in wirelesscommunication devices. In particular, it is important to ensure theaccuracy of transmitted and received signals through user equipmentdevices (UEs), e.g., through wireless devices such as cellular phones,base stations and relay stations used in wireless cellularcommunications. For example, some UEs may include multiple subscriberidentity modules (SIMs) which may be active concurrently. Under somecircumstances, collisions may occur between transmissions to such UEsassociated with different SIMs. Such collisions may negatively impactuser experience and performance of the UE. In addition, increasing thefunctionality of a UE device can place a significant strain on thebattery life of the UE device. For example, certain paging schedules fordifferent SIMs may require increased power use. Thus, it is veryimportant to also reduce power requirements in UE device designs whileallowing the UE device to maintain good transmit and receive abilitiesfor improved communications.

To increase coverage and better serve the increasing demand and range ofenvisioned uses of wireless communication, in addition to thecommunication standards mentioned above, there are further wirelesscommunication technologies under development, including fifth generation(5G) new radio (NR) communication. Accordingly, improvements in thefield in support of such development and design are desired.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are presented herein of apparatuses, systems, and methodsfor coordinating communication and avoiding and/or mitigating collisionsfor multi-subscriber identity module (MUSIM) devices in a wirelesscommunication system.

A MUSIM device may determine which SIMs are active and may determinenetworks associated with the active SIMs. The MUSIM device may detectpotential collisions and/or other uncoordinated communications among thevarious SIMs. The MUSIM device may coordinate communication in order toavoid collisions and/or otherwise improve communication schedules toimprove performance and/or reduce energy use. The MUSIM device maymitigate some collisions, e.g., by prioritizing communications accordingto various decision rules. The MUSIM device may communicate with one ormore base stations according to the coordination and mitigation.

A network (e.g., base station and/or other network device) may provideinformation to a MUSIM device in order enable the MUSIM device to detectcollisions and uncoordinated communication. Further, the network mayprovide information to the MUSIM device to enable the MUSIM device tomitigate collisions, e.g., by providing priority information and pagingrepetition patterns and information. Further, the network may adjust oneor more paging schedules and/or approaches for delivering commercialmobile alert system messages based on information received from a MUSIMdevice in order to improve coordination of communications.

Note that the techniques described herein may be implemented in and/orused with a number of different types of devices, including but notlimited to base stations, access points, cellular phones, portable mediaplayers, tablet computers, wearable devices, and various other computingdevices.

This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communicationsystem, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary base station in communication with anexemplary wireless user equipment device (UE), according to someembodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a UE, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a base station,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example block diagram of cellular communicationcircuitry, according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate examples of a 5G NR base station (gNB),according to some embodiments; and

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary method for coordinating communicationand mitigating collisions, according to some embodiments.

While features described herein are susceptible to various modificationsand alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should beunderstood, however, that the drawings and detailed description theretoare not intended to be limiting to the particular form disclosed, but onthe contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalentsand alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subjectmatter as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Acronyms

Various acronyms are used throughout the present disclosure. Definitionsof the most prominently used acronyms that may appear throughout thepresent disclosure are provided below:

-   -   UE: User Equipment or User Equipment Device    -   RF: Radio Frequency    -   BS: Base Station    -   GSM: Global System for Mobile Communication    -   UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunication System    -   LTE: Long Term Evolution    -   NR: New Radio    -   RAN: Radio Access Network    -   TX: Transmission/Transmit    -   RX: Reception/Receive    -   LAN: Local Area Network    -   WLAN: Wireless LAN    -   AP: Access Point    -   RAT: Radio Access Technology    -   IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers    -   Wi-Fi: Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) RAT based on the IEEE        802.11 standards    -   MUSIM: Multiple Subscriber Identity Module    -   SIM: Subscriber Identity Module

Terms

The following is a glossary of terms that may appear in the presentapplication:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices orstorage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include aninstallation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; acomputer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM,SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash,magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, orother similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium maycomprise other types of non-transitory memory as well or combinationsthereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a firstcomputer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located ina second different computer system which connects to the first computersystem over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, thesecond computer system may provide program instructions to the firstcomputer system for execution. The term “memory medium” may include twoor more memory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., indifferent computer systems that are connected over a network. The memorymedium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computerprograms) that may be executed by one or more processors.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Computer System (or Computer)—any of various types of computing orprocessing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), mainframecomputer system, workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance,personal digital assistant (PDA), television system, grid computingsystem, or other device or combinations of devices. In general, the term“computer system” may be broadly defined to encompass any device (orcombination of devices) having at least one processor that executesinstructions from a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems or devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wirelesscommunications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones orsmart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones), tablet computers(e.g., iPad™, Samsung Galaxy™), portable gaming devices (e.g., NintendoDS™, PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™, iPhone™), wearable devices(e.g., smart watch, smart glasses), laptops, PDAs, portable Internetdevices, music players, data storage devices, or other handheld devices,etc. In general, the term “UE” or “UE device” can be broadly defined toencompass any electronic, computing, and/or telecommunications device(or combination of devices) which is easily transported by a user andcapable of wireless communication.

Wireless Device—any of various types of computer systems or devices thatperform wireless communications. A wireless device can be portable (ormobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A UE is anexample of a wireless device.

Communication Device—any of various types of computer systems or devicesthat perform communications, where the communications can be wired orwireless. A communication device can be portable (or mobile) or may bestationary or fixed at a certain location. A wireless device is anexample of a communication device. A UE is another example of acommunication device.

Base Station (BS)—The term “Base Station” has the full breadth of itsordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication stationinstalled at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of awireless telephone system or radio system.

Processing Element—refers to various elements or combinations ofelements that are capable of performing a function in a device, e.g. ina user equipment device or in a cellular network device. Processingelements may include, for example: processors and associated memory,portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processorcores, processor arrays, circuits such as an ASIC (Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit), programmable hardware elements such as a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), as well any of various combinations ofthe above.

Wi-Fi—The term “Wi-Fi” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, andat least includes a wireless communication network or RAT that isserviced by wireless LAN (WLAN) access points and which providesconnectivity through these access points to the Internet. Most modernWi-Fi networks (or WLAN networks) are based on IEEE 802.11 standards andare marketed under the name “Wi-Fi”. A Wi-Fi (WLAN) network is differentfrom a cellular network.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thusthe term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

Configured to—Various components may be described as “configured to”perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broadrecitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the taskor tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured toperform the task even when the component is not currently performingthat task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured toelectrically connect a module to another module, even when the twomodules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be abroad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that”performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component canbe configured to perform the task even when the component is notcurrently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structurecorresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, forconvenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpretedas including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that isconfigured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not toinvoke 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph six, interpretation for thatcomponent.

FIGS. 1 and 2—Exemplary Communication System

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communicationsystem in which aspects of this disclosure may be implemented, accordingto some embodiments. It is noted that the system of FIG. 1 is merely oneexample of a possible system, and embodiments may be implemented in anyof various systems, as desired.

As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a basestation 102 which communicates over a transmission medium with one ormore (e.g., an arbitrary number of) user devices 106A, 106B, etc.through 106N. Each of the user devices may be referred to herein as a“user equipment” (UE) or UE device. Thus, the user devices 106 arereferred to as UEs or UE devices.

The base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cellsite, and may include hardware and/or software that enables wirelesscommunication with the UEs 106A through 106N. If the base station 102 isimplemented in the context of LTE, it may alternately be referred to asan ‘eNodeB’ or ‘eNB’. If the base station 102 is implemented in thecontext of 5G NR, it may alternately be referred to as a ‘gNodeB’ or‘gNB’. The base station 102 may also be equipped to communicate with anetwork 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, atelecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network(PSTN), and/or the Internet, among various possibilities). Thus, thebase station 102 may facilitate communication among the user devicesand/or between the user devices and the network 100. The communicationarea (or coverage area) of the base station may be referred to as a“cell.” As also used herein, from the perspective of UEs, a base stationmay sometimes be considered as representing the network insofar asuplink and downlink communications of the UE are concerned. Thus, a UEcommunicating with one or more base stations in the network may also beinterpreted as the UE communicating with the network.

The base station 102 and the user devices may be configured tocommunicate over the transmission medium using any of various radioaccess technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communicationtechnologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA),LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LAA/LTE-U, 5G NR, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g.,1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, etc.

Base station 102 and other similar base stations operating according tothe same or a different cellular communication standard may thus beprovided as one or more networks of cells, which may provide continuousor nearly continuous overlapping service to UE 106 and similar devicesover a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

Note that a UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiplewireless communication standards. For example, a UE 106 might beconfigured to communicate using either or both of a 3GPP cellularcommunication standard or a 3GPP2 cellular communication standard. TheUE 106 might also or alternatively be configured to communicate usingWLAN, BLUETOOTH™, one or more global navigational satellite systems(GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one and/or more mobile televisionbroadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H), etc. Other combinations ofwireless communication standards (including more than two wirelesscommunication standards) are also possible.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may be configured to coordinatecommunications and avoid or mitigate collisions associated withdifferent identities, at least according to the various methods asdescribed herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary user equipment 106 (e.g., one of thedevices 106A through 106N) in communication with the base station 102,according to some embodiments. The UE 106 may be a device with wirelessnetwork connectivity such as a mobile phone, a handheld device, awearable device, a computer or a tablet, or virtually any type ofwireless device. The UE 106 may include a processor (processing element)that is configured to execute program instructions stored in memory. TheUE 106 may perform any of the method embodiments described herein byexecuting such stored instructions. Alternatively, or in addition, theUE 106 may include a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA(field-programmable gate array), an integrated circuitry, and/or any ofvarious other possible hardware components that are configured toperform (e.g., individually or in combination) any of the methodembodiments described herein, or any portion of any of the methodembodiments described herein. The UE 106 may be configured tocommunicate using any of multiple wireless communication protocols. Forexample, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using two or moreof CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, WLAN, or GNSS. Other combinations ofwireless communication standards are also possible.

The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using oneor more wireless communication protocols according to one or more RATstandards. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may share one or more partsof a receive chain and/or transmit chain between multiple wirelesscommunication standards. The shared radio may include a single antenna,or may include multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performingwireless communications. In general, a radio may include any combinationof a baseband processor, analog RF signal processing circuitry (e.g.,including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digitalprocessing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation as well as otherdigital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or morereceive and transmit chains using the aforementioned hardware.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include separate transmit and/orreceive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radiocomponents) for each wireless communication protocol with which it isconfigured to communicate. As a further possibility, the UE 106 mayinclude one or more radios that are shared between multiple wirelesscommunication protocols, and one or more radios that are usedexclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example,the UE 106 may include a shared radio for communicating using either ofLTE or CDMA2000 1×RTT (or LTE or NR, or LTE or GSM or WCDMA), andseparate radios for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and BLUETOOTH™.Other configurations are also possible.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include multiple subscriber identitymodules (SIMs, sometimes referred to as SIM cards). In other words, theUE 106 may be a multi-SIM (MUSIM) device, such as a dual-SIM device. Anyof the various SIMs may be physical SIMs (e.g., SIM cards) or embedded(e.g., virtual) SIMs. Any combination of physical and/or virtual SIMsmay be included. Each SIM may provide various services (e.g., packetswitched and/or circuit switched services) to the user. In someembodiments, UE 106 may share common receive (Rx) and/or transmit (Tx)chains for multiple SIMs (e.g., UE 106 may have a dual SIM dual standbyarchitecture). Other architectures are possible. For example, UE 106 maybe a dual SIM dual active architecture, may include separate Tx and/orRx chains for the various SIMs, may include more than two SIMs, etc.

The different identities (e.g., different SIMs) may have differentidentifiers, e.g., different UE identities (UE IDs). For example, aninternational mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) may be an identityassociated with a SIM (e.g., in a MUSIM device each SIM may have its ownIMSI. The IMSI may be unique. Similarly, each SIM may have its ownunique international mobile equipment identity (IMEI). Thus, the IMSIand/or IMEI may be examples of possible UE IDs, however otheridentifiers may be used as UE ID.

The different identities may have the same or different relationships tovarious public land mobile networks (PLMNs). For example, a firstidentity may have a first home PLMN, while a second identity may have adifferent home PLMN. In such cases, one identity may be camped on a homenetwork (e.g., on a cell provided by BS 102) while another identity maybe roaming (e.g., while also camped on the same cell provided by BS 102,or a different cell provided by the same or different BS 102). In othercircumstances, multiple identities may be concurrently home (e.g., onthe same or different cells of the same or different networks) or may beconcurrently roaming (e.g., on the same or different cells of the sameor different networks). As will be appreciated, numerous combinationsare possible. For example, two SIM subscriptions on a MUSIM device maybelong to the same equivalent/carrier (e.g. AT&T/AT&T or CMCC/CMCC). Asanother exemplary possibility, SIM-A may be roaming into SIM-B's network(SIM-A CMCC user roaming into AT&T and SIM-B is also AT&T).

FIG. 3—Block Diagram of an Exemplary UE Device

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary UE 106, according tosome embodiments. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on chip(SOC) 300, which may include portions for various purposes. For example,as shown, the SOC 300 may include processor(s) 302 which may executeprogram instructions for the UE 106 and display circuitry 304 which mayperform graphics processing and provide display signals to the display360. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled to memory management unit(MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive addresses from theprocessor(s) 302 and translate those addresses to locations in memory(e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory 310)and/or to other circuits or devices, such as the display circuitry 304,radio 330, connector I/F 320, and/or display 360. The MMU 340 may beconfigured to perform memory protection and page table translation orset up. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as a portion ofthe processor(s) 302.

As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE106. For example, the UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g.,including NAND flash 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., for couplingto a computer system, dock, charging station, etc.), the display 360,and wireless communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR,CDMA2000, BLUETOOTH™, Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.). The UE device 106 may includeat least one antenna (e.g. 335 a), and possibly multiple antennas (e.g.illustrated by antennas 335 a and 335 b), for performing wirelesscommunication with base stations and/or other devices. Antennas 335 aand 335 b are shown by way of example, and UE device 106 may includefewer or more antennas. Overall, the one or more antennas arecollectively referred to as antenna 335. For example, the UE device 106may use antenna 335 to perform the wireless communication with the aidof radio circuitry 330. As noted above, the UE may be configured tocommunicate wirelessly using multiple wireless communication standardsin some embodiments.

As described further subsequently herein, the UE 106 (and/or basestation 102) may include hardware and software components forimplementing methods and embodiments. The processor(s) 302 of the UEdevice 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the methodsdescribed herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on amemory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium).In other embodiments, processor(s) 302 may be configured as aprogrammable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable GateArray), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).Furthermore, processor(s) 302 may be coupled to and/or may interoperatewith other components as shown in FIG. 3, to perform communicationaccording to various embodiments disclosed herein. For example,processor(s) 302 may cause UE 106 to avoid and/or mitigate collisionsbetween transmissions associated with different SIMs. Processor(s) 302may also implement various other applications and/or end-userapplications running on UE 106.

In some embodiments, radio 330 may include separate controllersdedicated to controlling communications for various respective RATstandards. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, radio 330 may include aWi-Fi controller 332, a cellular controller (e.g. NR controller) 334,and BLUETOOTH™ controller 336, and in at least some embodiments, one ormore or all of these controllers may be implemented as respectiveintegrated circuits (ICs or chips, for short) in communication with eachother and with SOC 300 (and more specifically with processor(s) 302).For example, Wi-Fi controller 332 may communicate with cellularcontroller 334 over a cell-ISM link or WCI interface, and/or BLUETOOTH™controller 336 may communicate with cellular controller 334 over acell-ISM link, etc. While three separate controllers are illustratedwithin radio 330, other embodiments have fewer or more similarcontrollers for various different RATs that may be implemented in UEdevice 106. Any or all of such controllers may be configured toimplement any of the various methods and embodiments disclosed herein,e.g., to avoid and/or mitigate collisions between transmissionsassociated with different SIMs.

FIG. 4—Block Diagram of an Exemplary Base Station

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary base station 102,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the base station of FIG.4 is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the basestation 102 may include processor(s) 404 which may execute programinstructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 404 may also becoupled to memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured toreceive addresses from the processor(s) 404 and translate thoseaddresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory(ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices.

The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Thenetwork port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network andprovide a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106, access to thetelephone network as described above in FIGS. 1 and 2. The network port470 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively beconfigured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., a core network of acellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility relatedservices and/or other services to a plurality of devices, such as UEdevices 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may couple to atelephone network via the core network, and/or the core network mayprovide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devices serviced bythe cellular service provider).

The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and possiblymultiple antennas. The antenna(s) 434 may be configured to operate as awireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate withUE devices 106 via radio 430. The antenna(s) 434 communicates with theradio 430 via communication chain 432. Communication chain 432 may be areceive chain, a transmit chain or both. The radio 430 may be designedto communicate via various wireless telecommunication standards,including, but not limited to, NR, LTE, LTE-A WCDMA, CDMA2000, etc. Theprocessor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implementand/or support implementation of part or all of the methods describedherein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memorymedium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium).Alternatively, the processor 404 may be configured as a programmablehardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or asan ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or a combinationthereof. In the case of certain RATs, for example Wi-Fi, base station102 may be designed as an access point (AP), in which case network port470 may be implemented to provide access to a wide area network and/orlocal area network (s), e.g. it may include at least one Ethernet port,and radio 430 may be designed to communicate according to the Wi-Fistandard.

FIG. 5—Block Diagram of Cellular Communication Circuitry

FIG. 5 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of cellularcommunication circuitry, according to some embodiments. It is noted thatthe block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry of FIG. 5 isonly one example of a possible cellular communication circuit; othercircuits, such as circuits including or coupled to sufficient antennasfor different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas,are also possible. According to embodiments, cellular communicationcircuitry 330 may be included in a communication device, such ascommunication device 106 described above. As noted above, communicationdevice 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device ormobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktopcomputer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop,notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet and/or a combinationof devices, among other devices.

The cellular communication circuitry 330 may couple (e.g.,communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, suchas antennas 335 a-b and 336 as shown (in FIG. 3). In some embodiments,cellular communication circuitry 330 may include dedicated receivechains for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and asecond receive chain for 5G NR). Such receive chains may include and/orbe communicatively coupled (e.g., directly or indirectly) to dedicatedprocessors and/or radios. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, cellularcommunication circuitry 330 may include a modem 510 and a modem 520.Modem 510 may be configured for communications according to a first RAT,e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A, and modem 520 may be configured forcommunications according to a second RAT, e.g., such as 5G NR.

As shown, modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 and a memory516 in communication with processors 512. Modem 510 may be incommunication with a radio frequency (RF) front end 530. RF front end530 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals.For example, RF front end 530 may include receive circuitry (RX) 532 andtransmit circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 532may be in communication with downlink (DL) front end 550, which mayinclude circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335 a.

Similarly, modem 520 may include one or more processors 522 and a memory526 in communication with processors 522. Modem 520 may be incommunication with an RF front end 540. RF front end 540 may includecircuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RFfront end 540 may include receive circuitry 542 and transmit circuitry544. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 542 may be in communicationwith DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radiosignals via antenna 335 b.

In some embodiments, a switch 570 may couple transmit circuitry 534 touplink (UL) front end 572. In addition, switch 570 may couple transmitcircuitry 544 to UL front end 572. UL front end 572 may includecircuitry for transmitting radio signals via antenna 336. Thus, whencellular communication circuitry 330 receives instructions to transmitaccording to the first RAT (e.g., as supported via modem 510), switch570 may be switched to a first state that allows modem 510 to transmitsignals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain thatincludes transmit circuitry 534 and UL front end 572). Similarly, whencellular communication circuitry 330 receives instructions to transmitaccording to the second RAT (e.g., as supported via modem 520), switch570 may be switched to a second state that allows modem 520 to transmitsignals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain thatincludes transmit circuitry 544 and UL front end 572).

In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may beconfigured to transmit, via the first modem while the switch is in thefirst state, a request to attach to a first network node operatingaccording to the first RAT and transmit, via the first modem while theswitch is in a first state, an indication that the wireless device iscapable of maintaining substantially concurrent connections with thefirst network node and a second network node that operates according tothe second RAT. The wireless device may also be configured transmit, viathe second radio while the switch is in a second state, a request toattach to the second network node. The request may include an indicationthat the wireless device is capable of maintaining substantiallyconcurrent connections with the first and second network nodes. Further,the wireless device may be configured to receive, via the first radio,an indication that dual connectivity with the first and second networknodes has been established.

As described herein, the modem 510 may include hardware and softwarecomponents for implementing features for using multiplexing to performtransmissions according to multiple radio access technologies in thesame frequency carrier, as well as the various other techniquesdescribed herein. The processors 512 may be configured to implement partor all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing programinstructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition),processor 512 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) theprocessor 512, in conjunction with one or more of the other components530, 532, 534, 550, 570, 572, 335 and 336 may be configured to implementpart or all of the features described herein.

In some embodiments, processor(s) 512, 522, etc. may be configured toimplement or support implementation of part or all of the methodsdescribed herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on amemory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium).Alternatively, the processor(s) 512, 522, etc. may be configured as aprogrammable hardware element, such as an FPGA, or as an ASIC, or acombination thereof. In addition, as described herein, processor(s) 512,522, etc. may include one or more processing elements. Thus,processor(s) 512, 522, etc. may include one or more integrated circuits(ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 512,522, etc. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry(e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to performthe functions of processor(s) 512, 522, etc.

As described herein, the modem 520 may include hardware and softwarecomponents for implementing features for using multiplexing to performtransmissions according to multiple radio access technologies in thesame frequency carrier, as well as the various other techniquesdescribed herein. The processors 522 may be configured to implement partor all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing programinstructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition),processor 522 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) theprocessor 522, in conjunction with one or more of the other components540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335 and 336 may be configured to implementpart or all of the features described herein.

FIGS. 6-7—5G NR Architecture

In some implementations, fifth generation (5G) wireless communicationwill initially be deployed concurrently with other wirelesscommunication standards (e.g., LTE). For example, whereas FIG. 6illustrates a possible standalone (SA) implementation of a nextgeneration core (NGC) network 606 and 5G NR base station (e.g., gNB604), dual connectivity between LTE and 5G new radio (5G NR or NR), suchas in accordance with the exemplary non-standalone (NSA) architectureillustrated in FIG. 7, has been specified as part of the initialdeployment of NR. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 7, evolved packet core(EPC) network 600 may continue to communicate with current LTE basestations (e.g., eNB 602). In addition, eNB 602 may be in communicationwith a 5G NR base station (e.g., gNB 604) and may pass data between theEPC network 600 and gNB 604. In some instances, the gNB 604 may alsohave at least a user plane reference point with EPC network 600. Thus,EPC network 600 may be used (or reused) and gNB 604 may serve as extracapacity for UEs, e.g., for providing increased downlink throughput toUEs. In other words, LTE may be used for control plane signaling and NRmay be used for user plane signaling. Thus, LTE may be used to establishconnections to the network and NR may be used for data services. As willbe appreciated, numerous other non-standalone architecture variants arepossible.

FIG. 8—Coordinating Communications and Mitigating Collisions for MUSIMDevices

As described above, a UE 106 (e.g., or other wireless device) maycontain multiple SIMs, e.g., UE 106 may be a MUSIM device. One or morenetworks associated with BS 102 (or multiple base stations 102) may notrecognize that the different identities associated with the SIMs of UE106 may belong to the same physical device (e.g., UE 106). In otherwords, one or more networks may treat the SIMs of UE 106 independently.Accordingly, communications to and from the various SIMs of UE 106 maynot be coordinated by the network(s) and collisions and other problemsassociated with lack of coordination may occur. Such collisions mayresult in interference between the communications and missed messagessuch as missed pages (e.g., mobile terminated (MT) pages). A missed pagemay result in the UE being penalized by a network, among variouspossibilities. Additionally, such collisions may result in interruptionsof a high priority activity (e.g., a voice call) of one SIM due to apage associated with a lower priority activity (e.g., a page indicatingavailability of downlink data) of another SIM. Such interruptions maydegrade the user experience (e.g., may lower the throughput rate of adata transfer, etc.).

In some cases, collisions may occur between alert system messagingacross multiple SIMs. Examples of such alert systems include, but arenot limited to: commercial mobile alert system (CMAS), earthquake &tsunami warning system (ETWS), wireless public alerting service (WPAS),etc. Such collisions may lead to interference and the UE 106 may notsuccessfully receive and decode such alert system messages. For example,upon receiving pages (e.g., to multiple SIMs) indicating theavailability of alert system messages, the SIMs may both attempt toretrieve the alert system messages simultaneously. Such attempts atsimultaneous retrieval may result in the SIMs competing for resources(e.g., RF circuitry, etc.) to perform the retrieval (e.g., the SIMs mayeach attempt to preempt the other SIMs actions).

Similarly, such lack of coordination of communication across themultiple SIMs may be inefficient. For example, paging occasions of thevarious identities may be separate. Accordingly, the UE 106 may wake upto monitor paging occasions of each identity. This increased amount ofmonitoring may significantly increase power consumption and reducebattery life.

Avoiding or mitigating such collisions and lack of coordination may bebeneficial to the user experience, battery life, and performance of a UE106. Additionally, mitigating the negative impact of collisions mayoffer similar benefits. FIG. 8 is a flow chart diagram illustratingmethods of avoiding and/or mitigating coordination problems betweencommunications associated with different SIMs, at least according tosome embodiments. Aspects of the method of FIG. 8 may be implemented bya wireless device, e.g., in conjunction with one or more base station,such as a UE 106 and a BS 102 illustrated in and described with respectto various of the Figures herein, or more generally in conjunction withany of the computer circuitry, systems, devices, elements, or componentsshown in the above Figures, among others, as desired. For example, aprocessor (and/or other hardware) of such a device may be configured tocause the device to perform any combination of the illustrated methodelements and/or other method elements.

Note that while at least some elements of the method of FIG. 8 aredescribed in a manner relating to the use of communication techniquesand/or features associated with NR and/or 3GPP specification documents,such description is not intended to be limiting to the disclosure, andaspects of the method of FIG. 8 may be used in any suitable wirelesscommunication system, as desired. In various embodiments, some of theelements of the methods shown may be performed concurrently, in adifferent order than shown, may be substituted for by other methodelements, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also beperformed as desired. As shown, the method of FIG. 8 may operate asfollows.

A UE 106 may determine what SIMs (e.g., or more generally, identities)of the device are active (802), according to some embodiments. The UE106 may determine various parameters of the SIMs, e.g., home and/orpreferred networks (e.g., which networks are preferred for roaming basedon any subscriptions of the SIM, etc.), which if any SIM is preferredfor various functions (e.g., data, voice, etc.), UE IDs, etc. Forexample, the UE 106 may determine that one SIM is preferred for datatransfers in a current location of the UE 106 based on the relativecosts of data associated with subscriptions of the SIMS in thatlocation.

The UE 106 may determine one or more networks (e.g., PLMNs) available toeach SIM (e.g., or more generally, identity) of the device (804),according to some embodiments. For example, the UE 106 may determinewhether or not a home network of a first SIM is available. Similarly,the UE 106 may determine whether each (e.g., or any) SIM is camped onany network, and whether or not a network that each respective SIM iscamped on is a home network (e.g., or other preferred network or aroaming network the respective, etc.). The UE 106 may determine whatnetworks are available and whether each available network is a home,preferred, or roaming network for each SIM. The UE may determine theavailability of such networks prior to registration with any of thenetworks and/or after the UE has registered one or more SIMs with one ormore networks.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may determine one or more parametersassociated with each network, e.g., based on system informationtransmitted by the BS 102. For example, the UE 106 may determine thepaging configuration (e.g., the paging occasion(s) and related details)of the network(s). In some embodiments, the paging configurationtransmitted by the BS 102 may allow the UE 106 to determine pagerepetition patterns of the network(s), e.g., the pattern of when and ifa network will resend a page that the UE 106 does not acknowledge aftera first transmission of the page. For example, the paging configurationmay specify the number of times a page is repeated (e.g., pending areply from the UE) and the duration between each repetition. Thus, theUE may be able to determine expected timing of one or more repetitionsassociated with a potentially missed page.

Further, the UE 106 may determine similar configuration informationrelated to CMAS from the one or more networks, e.g., what time andfrequency resources the BS 102 may use to transmit alert system messagesand related pages to the UE 106.

The UE 106 may detect potential collisions and/or other problemsassociated with lack of coordination between communications associatedwith each SIM (806), according to some embodiments.

As a first detection example, the UE 106 may detect that the pagingoccasions (e.g., configured discontinuous reception (DRX) parameters)associated with two or more SIMs may be uncoordinated. In other words,the UE may determine that the paging occasions (e.g., DRX cycles)potentially cause the UE to monitor paging associated with the differentSIMs on different time and/or frequency resources. Thus, due touncoordinated paging cycles, the UE may have limited sleep (e.g., DRXoff) time and therefore may use battery energy more rapidly than if thepaging occasions of the different SIMs were coordinated.

As a second detection example, the UE 106 may detect collisions betweenpaging occasions of different SIMs. For example, the UE 106 maydetermine that the paging occasions of different SIMs at the same time.

As a third detection example, the UE 106 may recognize possiblecollisions between alert system messages associated with different SIMs.In other words, the UE may recognize that the BS 102 (or multiple BS 102s) may send multiple (e.g., related, e.g., associated with the sameunderlying alert) alert system messages to the UE at the same time, andas a result that the UE 106 may not successfully receive such alertsystem messages.

As a fourth detection example, the UE 106 may detect a collision betweenan activity of first SIM and a page (or other activity) for a secondSIM. The UE may determine various parameters of the activity and thepage or other activity. For example, the UE may determine a prioritylevel associated with the activity for the first SIM, e.g., a voice callmay have a high priority level. Similarly, the UE may determine apriority level associated with the page. For example, the page mayinclude a paging cause field (or other indicator of an activity withwhich the page is associated). A paging cause field may explicitly orimplicitly indicate to a UE whether activity associated with the page isof a relatively high or low priority. A page indicating downlink dataaccess (e.g., via such a cause field or other indicator) may be considera low priority level, among various possibilities.

The UE 106 may (e.g., in cooperation with the network, e.g. BS 102)coordinate communications associated with different SIMs (808),according to some embodiments. In order to coordinate communications,the UE 106 may provide a coordination request and/or relevantinformation to one or more networks associated with one or more of theSIMs. Such a coordination request and/or information may indicate to oneor more of the networks to adjust upcoming communications (e.g., apaging schedule, provision of alert system messages, etc.) to the UE 106to avoid a potential collision between communications associated withthe different SIMs. In other words, the coordination request may bebased on the potential collision.

As a first coordination example, the UE 106 may inform a network that itis a MUSIM device and/or provide a list of UE IDs (e.g., UE ID 1associated with a first SIM and UE ID 2 associated with a second SIM) onwhich it may receive pages. The UE 106 may indicate a preferred UE ID(e.g., UE ID 1) for receiving pages. In other words, the UE 106 maytransmit a coordination request to the network to provide pages for UEID 2 on paging occasions for UE ID 1. The UE 106 may provide thisinformation to the network upon initial registration (of one or bothSIMs) or at any later time or even as a response to a request from theNW to provide such information. For example, the UE 106 may include theinformation in a registration request transmitted to BS 102, which theBS 102 may relay to a core NW element. This first coordination examplemay be particularly useful in scenarios in which two or more SIMs of theUE are camped on the same network (e.g., in some cases of the firstdetection example, described above). Similarly, this first coordinationexample may be useful in the case of RAN sharing such that multipleidentities of the UE may be camped on different networks provided by thesame base station. Based on such an indication, the BS 102 (e.g., orother network device) may ensure that the paging occasions for the UE106 may be calculated based on UE ID 1 (e.g., for both the first andsecond SIMs). In other words, when the BS 102 receives (from a networkelement) a page for the SIM associated with UE ID 2, it may transmit thepage on time/frequency resources corresponding to a paging occasionassociated with UE ID 1. For example, the BS 102 may include anidentifier in the page indication identifying the page as a page for UEID 2. Similarly, the BS 102 may transmit pages for UE ID 1 on resourcesassociated with a paging occasion for UE ID 1, and may include anidentifier indicating the page is for UE ID 1. Thus, the UE 106 may onlymonitor paging occasions (e.g., DRX on durations) associated with UE ID1. Upon receiving a page for UE ID 1, the UE 106 may process itnormally, e.g., using the first SIM. Upon receiving a page for UE ID 2(e.g., on a paging occasion associated with UE ID 1), the UE 106 mayinternally forward the received page to the second SIM, e.g., or aprocessing element associated with the second SIM. The UE 106 may thenproceed with normal page processing, e.g., using the second SIM. Forexample, upon receiving a page, the UE 106 may identify which SIM thepage is associated with and may provide the page to a processing elementor stack executing operations for the relevant SIM (e.g., UE ID 1 or UEID 2). Thus, the UE 106 may avoid unnecessary tuneaways (e.g.,interrupting an activity of the first SIM) or on durations for pagemonitoring for UE ID 2.

In some embodiments, a page to the SIM associated with UE ID 2 may betransmitted via a link/cell associated with the SIM associated with UEID 1. However, the page may be transmitted in the paging occasiondetermined based on UE ID 2.

As a second coordination example, the UE 106 may transmit a coordinationrequest to a network in order to alter a paging occasion of first SIM inorder to coordinate with a paging occasion of a second SIM. Thisapproach may be useful in scenarios where the various SIMs are camped ondifferent networks or base stations. For example, this approach may beuseful if the UE detects a potential collision between the pagingoccasions of the two SIMs (e.g., the second detection example). Further,this approach may be useful in scenarios where the UE detects that thepaging occasions are staggered in such a way as to increase the UE'spower consumption relative to a coordinated paging schedule (e.g., thefirst detection example). In such scenarios, the UE may request to alterone paging occasion to be (e.g., immediately) before or after the otherpaging occasion. Alternatively, the UE 106 may request to alter thepaging occasions so that they occur at the same time but on frequenciesthat the UE 106 may simultaneously monitor. Thus, the UE may be able tosequentially monitor the two paging occasions (e.g., during a single DRXon period), and then power off some communication circuitry (e.g., for aDRX off period). As a first possibility, the UE 106 may request to thenetwork to provide an offset to the pre-calculated paging occasion ofthe first SIM, e.g., to shift the paging occasion by an amount of timeequal to the offset. The network may determine limits on such offsetsand may indicate such limits as part of paging configurationinformation, in response to a query from UE 106, and/or in response to arequest from UE 106 to alter is paging occasion (e.g., requesting anoffset larger than the maximum offset limit). As a second possibility,the UE 106 may (e.g., additionally or alternatively) provide anindication to the network of the paging occasion of the second SIM.Thus, the UE may provide information to the network associated with thefirst SIM so that the network may determine and provide a collision freepaging configuration (e.g., and coordinated DRX parameters) for thefirst SIM. Thus, the network may be aware of and minimize the potentialfor tuneaways. Such a request to alter a paging occasion (e.g., DRX,etc.) may be transmitted from the UE to the network using radio resourcecontrol (RRC) signaling, among various possibilities.

As a third coordination example, the UE 106 may transmit a coordinationrequest including an indication to one or more networks regarding how orif that network should transmit alert system messages to the UE and/ormay determine which SIM to use to retrieve alert system messages. Insome embodiments, such an indication may allow the network(s) toimplement a standardized approach to avoid alert system collisions toMUSIM devices. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may autonomouslydetermine which SIM to use to retrieve a alert system messages based onthe following possible decision rules. In such embodiments, the UE 106may or may not indicate to the network(s) which SIM may be used toretrieve alert system messages. For example, the UE 106 may indicate toa first network that a second network has been selected to retrievealert system messages and that the first network may not transmit alertsystem messages to the UE 106. Moreover, the UE 106 may transmit anindication to one or more (e.g., all connected) networks indicating thatthe alert system message has been received (e.g., using the selectedSIM).

As a first possibility, the UE may select a data preferred network orSIM to retrieve alert system messages. For example, if two SIMs arecamped on their respective home networks, the UE 106 may determine touse a data preferred SIM to retrieve alert system messages, according tosome embodiments. Thus, the UE 106 may indicate to one or both of thenetworks that the UE 106 will retrieve alert system messages of anetwork that is associated with a data preferred SIM. Thus, the othernetwork may not provide alert system messages to the other SIM.

As a second possibility, the UE 106 may determine to use a home network(e.g., rather than a roaming network) to retrieve alert system messages.For example, if a first SIM is camped on a home network and the secondSIM is roaming, the UE may determine to retrieve alert system messagesvia the home network, according to some embodiments. Thus, the UE 106may indicate to one or both networks that the home network (andcorresponding first SIM) may be used to retrieve alert system messagesand/or that alert system messages to the second SIM (e.g., over theroaming network) may not be retrieved. Thus, the roaming network may notprovide alerts to the second SIM.

As a third possibility, if a first SIM is in idle mode and the secondSIM is in connected mode, the UE may determine to retrieve alert systemmessages via the connected SIM (e.g., regardless of whether the SIMS areconnected to the same or different networks), according to someembodiments. Thus, the UE 106 may indicate to one or both networks thatthe connected SIM may be used to retrieve alert system messages and/orthat alert system alerts to the idle SIM may not be retrieved. Thus, thenetwork associated with the idle SIM may not provide alerts, e.g., whilethat SIM remains in idle mode.

As a fourth possibility, in the case of radio access network (RAN)sharing by multiple networks (e.g., PLMNs), multiple SIMs of a UE 106may be camped on a same cell, but with different mobile country code(MCC) and/or mobile network code (MNC). In such cases, the UE 106 mayselect one of the SIMs based on the MCC and/or MNC to retrieve alertsystem messages. Thus, the UE 106 may indicate to one or both networksthat the selected SIM may be used to retrieve alert system messagesand/or that alert system messages to the unselected SIM may not beretrieved. Thus, the network associated with the unselected SIM may notprovide alerts.

The UE 106 may mitigate collisions between communications with differentSIMs (810), according to some embodiments. In other words, the UE 106may determine which SIM to prioritize in the case of a collision (e.g.,a collision that is not avoided based on the coordination describedabove with respect to 808) between communications on one SIM andcommunications on another SIM. For example, based on receiving a pagefor a first SIM, the UE 106 may determine that responding to the pagewould result in a collision and thus interfere with (e.g., require atuneaway from) ongoing communication activity of a second SIM. The UE106 may select whether to continue with the activity of the second SIMor to respond to the page for the first SIM based on paging repetitionpattern, a one bit indicator of whether a page will be repeated, and/ora paging cause, among various possibilities as explained further below.

As a first mitigation example, the UE 106 may consider a pagingrepetition pattern (e.g., as indicated in paging configurationinformation) of a network, according to some embodiments. For example,as described above a network may provide (e.g., potentially in responseto a request from UE 106) information about how a page is repeated if afirst instance of the page is not acknowledged by the UE 106. Forexample, the paging repetition pattern may include a number ofrepetitions and the time interval(s) between the repetitions (e.g., afirst repetition may occur 2 frames after the initial page, a secondrepetition will occur 3 frames later, etc., among variouspossibilities). Based on the paging repetition pattern, the UE 106 maydetermine whether to interrupt a communication of a first SIM (e.g.,tuneaway from the first SIM) in order to respond to (e.g., retrieve anddecode) a page from a second SIM. For example, the UE 106 may determinebased on the paging repetition pattern of a network connected to a firstSIM and an expected length of an ongoing communication (e.g.,transmission and/or reception) of a second SIM, whether the ongoingcommunication activity may be complete prior to an expected repetition.The UE 106 may determine whether or not to interrupt the ongoingcommunication to tuneaway for a paging occasion of the first SIM basedon the comparison. For example, the UE 106 may compare the expectedlength of the ongoing communication to an expected time until aparticular page repetition. If the expected length is shorter than theexpected time until the repetition, the UE 106 may determine to ignorethe page occasion (e.g., and not tuneaway) in order to avoidinterrupting the ongoing communication. Thus, determining not to respondto the page may allow the ongoing communication to complete prior toanswering the page (e.g., at the particular page repetition or a pagerepetition prior to the particular page repetition). The UE 106 mayselect the particular page repetition as desired. For example, the UE106 may select a particular page repetition so that a threshold numberof further page repetitions are expected after the particular pagerepetition (e.g., to allow for the possibility that the UE 106 may missthe particular page repetition, e.g., due to factors related to orseparate from the ongoing communication). For example, if the pagingrepetition pattern includes four expected repetitions, the UE may selectthe 2^(nd) or 3^(rd) repetition to allow for two or one, respectively,additional chances to receive the page of the paging occasion is skippeddue to the ongoing communication. The UE 106 may receive and respond toa repetition of the page at any of the expected repetitions of the page(e.g., according to the page repetition pattern).

In some embodiments, a network (e.g., BS 102) may include other pagingrepetition information in a page or associated with a page, and the UE106 may use this information to select whether to continue with theactivity of the second SIM or to respond to the page for the first SIM.For example, a BS 102 may include one bit indicator in a page toindicate whether or not the page will be repeated (e.g., a pagerepetition indicator). The UE 106 may use the indicator (e.g., insteadof or in addition to paging repetition information) to determine whetherto respond to a page immediately or to wait for a repetition. The UE 106may use such an indicator in combination with an expected length, asdescribed above in the first mitigation example.

As a second mitigation example, a network (e.g., BS 102) may include apaging cause in a page, according to some embodiments. Thus, the UE 106may consider the paging cause (e.g., as indicated in a page of a firstSIM) to determine a priority level (e.g., to distinguish between highand low priority) of activity associated with the page and to determinewhether or not to preempt activity of a second SIM based on the page.Thus, if the paging cause indicate a sufficiently high priority cause ofthe page (e.g., a priority level above a threshold), the UE 106 mayinterrupt ongoing activity of the second SIM in order to respond to thepage. For example, the UE 106 may interrupt a data transfer of thesecond SIM in order to respond to a page indicating a voice call for thefirst SIM. Conversely, if the paging cause does not indicate asufficiently high priority cause of the page, the UE 106 may determinenot to interrupt the activity of the second SIM, e.g., and therefore todelay responding to the page of the first SIM. In other words, the UE106 may consider the priority of the activity of the second SIM as wellas (e.g., in comparison to) the priority associated with the pagingcause of the first SIM. The UE 106 may consider additional factors suchas paging repetition and/or expected duration as in the first mitigationexample. Further, the UE 106 may consider factors related to thenetworks and/or preferences associated with each SIM. For example, theUE 106 may adjust the relative priority attributed to one or more SIMbased on whether the network or SIM is preferred for data, voice, etc.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may consider both a paging repetitionpattern and a paging cause. In other words, aspects of the first andsecond mitigation examples may be combined. For example, the particularpaging repetition may be selected based at least in part on a pagingcause, e.g., a threshold number of page repetitions may be higher for ahigher priority paging cause than for a lower priority paging cause. Forexample, if a paging cause indicates a voice call, the UE 106 may use ahigher number of page repetitions than for data availability (e.g., toensure that the voice call is connected promptly), while allowing sometime for the ongoing communication activity to complete.

The UE 106 may communicate with BS 102 (or multiple base stations)according to the coordination and mitigation (812). This communicationmay include uplink and/or downlink transmissions using any or all SIMsof UE 106.

For example, the UE 106 and the BS 102 may coordinate according to anycommunication request transmitted by the UE 106 to the BS 102 (e.g., asdiscussed with respect to 808). In other words, the BS 102 and/or UE 106may adjust one or more communication schedules to avoid any potentialcollisions identified (e.g., in 806).

Similarly, in the case that a potential collision is not avoided, the UE106 may prioritize communications (e.g., as discussed with respect to810).

In some embodiments, the UE 106 and/or BS 102 may adjust variouscommunication parameters (e.g., paging occasions, prioritizations, etc.)as needed based on changes in conditions. For example, the UE 106 maymove and connect to different networks, and may thus adjust decisionrules regarding tuneaways, coordination between paging schedules, etc.

In the following further exemplary embodiments are provided.

Embodiments of the present invention may be realized in any of variousforms. For example, in some embodiments, the present invention may berealized as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable memorymedium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, the presentinvention may be realized using one or more custom-designed hardwaredevices such as ASICs. In other embodiments, the present invention maybe realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such asFPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium(e.g., a non-transitory memory element) may be configured so that itstores program instructions and/or data, where the program instructions,if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform amethod, e.g., any of a method embodiments described herein, or, anycombination of the method embodiments described herein, or, any subsetof any of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combinationof such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to includea processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium (or memoryelement), where the memory medium stores program instructions, where theprocessor is configured to read and execute the program instructionsfrom the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable toimplement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or,any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, anysubset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, anycombination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any ofvarious forms.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiableinformation should follow privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular,personally identifiable information data should be managed and handledso as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use,and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: a processorconfigured to cause a wireless device to: determine a first networkassociated with a first subscriber identity module (SIM); determine asecond network associated with a second SIM; determine information for acoordination request to avoid a collision between a first communicationfrom the first network for the first SIM and a second communication fromthe second network for the second SIM, wherein the information includesan offset limit to a paging occasion of the first SIM indicated by thefirst network to the wireless device; transmit, to a base stationassociated with the first network, the coordination request to avoid thecollision, wherein the coordination request includes a requested offsetto the paging occasion of the first SIM, wherein the requested offset isless than the offset limit; and communicate, with the base station,according to the coordination request, wherein said communicating avoidsthe collision.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the coordinationrequest includes a request to the first network to alter a pagingoccasion of the first SIM.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein thefirst network and the second network are different.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 2, wherein the first network and the second network are different,wherein the coordination request includes an indication to the firstnetwork of a paging occasion of the second SIM.
 5. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the first network and the second network are the same,wherein the coordination request includes an indication to the firstnetwork to transmit pages for the first SIM on a paging occasionassociated with the second SIM.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thefirst network and the second network are different, wherein thecoordination request includes an indication regarding how or if thefirst network should transmit alert system messages to the wirelessdevice.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first network is a homenetwork for the first SIM and the second network is a home network forthe second SIM, wherein the second SIM is a data preferred SIM, whereinthe indication indicates that the wireless device will retrieve alertsystem messages over the second network.
 8. The apparatus of claim 6,wherein the second network is a home network for the second SIM and thefirst network is a roaming network for the first SIM, wherein theindication indicates that the wireless device will retrieve alert systemmessages over the second network.
 9. The apparatus of claim 6, whereinthe first SIM and the second SIM are both camped on a same cell with adifferent mobile country code (MCC) and/or a mobile network code (MNC),wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless deviceto select the second SIM based on the MCC and/or MNC, wherein theindication indicates that the wireless device will retrieve alert systemmessages over the second network.
 10. A wireless device, comprising: aradio; and a processor operably coupled to the radio and configured tocause the wireless device to: determine a first network associated witha first subscriber identity module (SIM); determine a second networkassociated with a second SIM; determine information for a coordinationrequest to avoid a collision between a first communication from thefirst network for the first SIM and a second communication from thesecond network for the second SIM, wherein the information includes anoffset limit to a paging occasion of the first SIM indicated by thefirst network to the wireless device; transmit, to a base stationassociated with the first network, the coordination request to avoid thecollision, wherein the coordination request includes a requested offsetto the paging occasion of the first SIM, wherein the requested offset isless than the offset limit; and communicate, with the base station,according to the coordination request, wherein said communicating avoidsthe collision.
 11. The wireless device of claim 10, wherein thecoordination request includes a request to the first network to alter apaging occasion of the first SIM.
 12. The wireless device of claim 11,wherein the first network and the second network are different.
 13. Thewireless device of claim 11, wherein the first network and the secondnetwork are different, wherein the coordination request includes anindication to the first network of a paging occasion of the second SIM.14. The wireless device of claim 10, wherein the first network and thesecond network are the same, wherein the coordination request includesan indication to the first network to transmit pages for the first SIMon a paging occasion associated with the second SIM.
 15. The wirelessdevice of claim 10, wherein the first network and the second network aredifferent, wherein the coordination request includes an indicationregarding how or if the first network should transmit alert systemmessages to the wireless device.
 16. The wireless device of claim 15,wherein the first network is a home network for the first SIM and thesecond network is a home network for the second SIM, wherein the secondSIM is a data preferred SIM, wherein the indication indicates that thewireless device will retrieve alert system messages over the secondnetwork.
 17. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the second networkis a home network for the second SIM and the first network is a roamingnetwork for the first SIM, wherein the indication indicates that thewireless device will retrieve alert system messages over the secondnetwork.
 18. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the first SIM andthe second SIM are both camped on a same cell with a different mobilecountry code (MCC) and/or a mobile network code (MNC), wherein theprocessor is further configured to cause the wireless device to selectthe second SIM based on the MCC and/or MNC, wherein the indicationindicates that the wireless device will retrieve alert system messagesover the second network.
 19. A method, comprising: at a wireless device:determining a first network associated with a first subscriber identitymodule (SIM); determining a second network associated with a second SIM;determining information for a coordination request to avoid a collisionbetween a first communication from the first network for the first SIMand a second communication from the second network for the second SIM,wherein the information includes an offset limit to a paging occasion ofthe first SIM indicated by the first network to the wireless device;transmitting, to a base station associated with the first network, thecoordination request to avoid the collision, wherein the coordinationrequest includes a requested offset to the paging occasion of the firstSIM, wherein the requested offset is less than the offset limit; andcommunicating, with the base station, according to the coordinationrequest, wherein said communicating avoids the collision.
 20. The methodof claim 19, wherein the coordination request includes a request to thefirst network to alter a paging occasion of the first SIM.